Replacing a Canon Pixma ip4000

[Trigger 37]

jayjay22, before you run out and buy an Epson, go to the "Fixyourownprinter" forum and just read some of the problems associated with Epsons and clogging and broken purge tubes. Here is a link to many discussions about the problems of the CX5400, the CX4600, and the CX 6400. The Nifty Stuff forum seems to concentrate on Canon printers so you won't find much here about Epson.

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/29681#125

There is two years of people with problems on Epson and the inside guts. The inside mechanism of one of their CX ALL in ONe printers is the same as their standard printers, except there is more electronics. The printheads, ink carts, etc. are the same, as well as the purge unit.

If you think that a CIS system is going to solve all your ink problems, I think you will be very disappointed. I don't know the magnitude of printing you have to do but there are far simplier solutions to volume printing than a CIS system. It sound like you get a big job and have lots of printing to do for a couple of weeks, then the printer sets for a couple of weeks. I think you've learned now that you can't do that and expect any printer to function good. So now that you've learned that, it would seem that using a good printer and refillable ink carts would be very simple. I used a very fast Canon i560 for three years and never had a clog,.. becuase I maintained it and watched the ink all the time. Another alternative is the compatible ink carts. You can get the BCI-6 now for about $1.25 ea and you could print 250 pages or more. So if you had to change ink carts twice in a heavy print job, it costs you $2.50 to $4.00.

If you are printing a lot more than that, then I think you would really be concerned about speed of printing. Epson is no where near as fast as the top Canon. HP is boasting about printers that can do up to 30 ppm in black, but it would probably break after you changed the ink carts twice.... or ran out of $$$.

Of all the printer I have repaired, there is no issue, Canon is the most reliable, the most repairable, the fastest, and the longest lasting. Do they go bad,... you bet but 90% of the time it has something to do with the printhead, the ink, and how the printer was used and maintained. Yesterday I updated to posts in this forum about a Canon i960 printer that someone sold to be because they were totally frustrated about how terrible the printer was and how hard they had tried to fix it and nothing had worked,... and on and on and on. When I got the printer and did my normal inspection and cleaning process I had the printer back to 100% quality in less than 4 hours, and most of that was my time playing golf while the printhead soaked. Find the posts and look at the images and see if they resemble your printer. The iP4000 is one of the best printers out there and I'm sure there will be others willing to buy it from you. If somehow your printhead is really dead, buy a new one from Canon for $36 and with some good ink carts you're back in business.

 

[jayjay22]

trigger and tyamada, thanks for responding, sorry it has been some time since i have been on here, busy at work and stuff. I understand what both of you are saying about trying a new print head, and I also have no doubt that would have fixed my issue with the ip4000. but honestly I was just so disgusted at the issues I had with this canon printer throughout the 2-years of ownership. I honestly spent more time and wasted more ink doing head cleanings and printing purge pages to try and clear a clog than i did on actually printing photos and stuff. I will accept my fair share of the blame since I admit that my usage habits may have contributed to many of the issues, but i still can't bring myself to buy another canon. I may purchase a new printhead for the ip4000 and then just buy reliable compatibles for it and use it as a spare printer, not too sure yet. Again I have to thank everybody for their helpful suggestions and advice. Anybody who said stick with canon, i don't discount that at all, I am sure they work well for many people. One day I may buy another one. I just want to try an epson for a change in the hopes i have good luck with them.

I should give everybody a quick update about my status on this issue. I purchased an epson r380 late last week. I got it at compusa along with the 2-year replacement warranty for $25. I have also vowed to myself that I will begin printing more regularly, at least printing a picture every other day to avoid the problems I have had before.. After much research on all the various CIS units out there I finally came across the one from alotofthings.com for the r380. I was very impressed with the fact that they have a phone line which is always manned by live people. I called and spoke with a gentleman (forgot his name) and was on the phone with him for over 20 minutes while he answered all of my questions about their unit and even several questions about printers in general. He was incredibly helpful. Finally I ordered the CIS unit. It was ordered on Thursday, shipped on Friday and received on Monday. Thus far I am yet to use or hook up the kit since I am still using up the original cartridges that came with the printer. So right now I can only say that I am very happy with the service they provided both before the order and in the shipping process. I cannot vouch for how well the CIS from alotofthings.com works but I will report back once I use it for a bit and see how things are.

It is unfortunate that this forum is so canon focused, because I will regret losing the resources and knowledgable users of this forum. Hopefully I can still use the forums if I end up getting the ip4000 going as a secondary printer. Thanks again to everyone, i'll post my experiences with the r380 and the alotofthings.com CIS.

 

[Trigger 37]

jayjay22,... congradulations on your new printer and your new CIS system. We wish you the best of luck in getting is set up and working. There is not one of us that has a clue on how this will turn our for you. It could be fantastic, ... or it could be a problem. In either way we wish you the best of luck ,... you had the guts to go for it and now we await the results.

 

[jayjay22]

Just wanted to update everyone on my experiences so far with the epson r380 and my new Continuous Inking System from alotofthings.com. The original ink finally ran out 2 days ago so I made time to get the CIS installed. The CIS from alotofthings is one that is generally sold prefilled, but alotofthings sells it empty so you have to fill and prime it before putting it into the printer. I actually like that they do it this way so that the user will know right away if they are going to have issues with the CIS for any reason and can thusly get support right away.

The fill process was very easy, but also time consuming. The tanks each hold 100ml of ink and it took me over 2 1/2 hours to fill and prime all 6 colors. This is mostly because it was my first time and I was going slow and making sure I didn't screw anything up. Subsequent refills will take much less time I am sure. The website has a great support section with detailed easy to follow instructions for the fill and prime process including images and videos.

When I finished filling and priming all the ink tanks, I followed the instructions included with the unit for the install of the system into the printer. The install process was very easy, pretty much just consisting of popping the ink tank cover off and putting the 6 CIS inktanks into the printer. Then using the 2 included sticky tabs attached to the tubing to mount the tubing out of the way of the printhead carriage. Then turning the printer on and allowing it to charge the ink. I was a bit concerned when after getting the system installed the ink was kind of creeping down the tubing very slowly because the CIS unit with the ink tanks was sitting lower than the carriage at that point. I thought maybe I didn't prime them properly, or possibly the ink reservoirs were supposed to be sitting up higher. However as soon as I turned the printer on, the ink was immediately sucked into the cartridges for good during the 'charging' process. I did have to run 2 cleaning cycles to get a perfect nozzle check pattern, but the CIS manual said you will likely have to do that.

Thus far I am very happy with both the printer and the CIS unit. The images are very high quality, and thus far the CIS system is working beautifully. I have printed several high resolution DVD covers on photo paper and everything is coming out just as good as before. I am keeping track of everything that I am printing by category,: i.e. how many photos (4x6 and 8x10 + type of paper) text pages, text + image pages, and full color DVD covers (which I guess I could count as 8x10 photos since I print them at photo quality on photo paper and they take up most of the page) so that I can see how much I am able to print with a full set of tanks. I am sure I may have been just as well off with a good set of refillable cartridges, but I really wanted to try a CIS system so I can just fill it and let it print. It is too soon to tell if things will be good long-term, but so far I am pleased with my decisions. I will keep everyone updated on my experience with this system over the coming months.

Also wanted to add that it will only cost me $35.00 for a set of ink to refill this CIS, so it should make for some very cheap printing. I have already printed over 15 full dvd covers on photo paper and the ink hasn't even moved down a smidge in the reservoirs! And the $35.00 is assuming that I buy the ink from alotofthings (TrueColor Imaging inks), it may even be much cheaper since I can use any ink in here (though I definitely plan on only using very high quality ink).

 

[rehardwick]

For those looking for used printers, I find that craigslist.org prices are lower than ebay, but availability is spotty.

 

[Ron350]

Jayjay22 you might want to check out this thread over at Steves place about Epson waste ink.

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=51595&forum_id=40

 

[rehardwick]

Epson CX5400-is it worth dealing with?

I just ran across a CX5400 that I can pick up for a song. But it will not print black and from what I have read, this is a common problem with these printers and some people run a tube out the back to collect waste ink. Is it worth while or more of provider of frustration?

 

[Trigger 37]

rehardwick,....I have had to repair several of the Epson CX4xxx and 5xxx and they all have a basic design problem with the purge unit suction tubes "Blowing Off", and they symptom is "It won't print Black". These are so bad that Epson has sent one of my customers a new CX5000 to replace her CX4600. The real bad news is that these printer use the 9 pin chips and there is no chip resetter for them, and they can't be refilled,.. and they cost like the S#(*&%$#@. The only vendor compatible ink carts won't snap into the printer as the tabs are not the same.

The reason you can get it for a song,... is that no one wants to sing that tune.

 

[Tin Ho]

Trigger, I got a Epson C-80 came to me this morning. It has a problem that the power LED won't stay on. But if I press the power switch and hold it the printer will begin its power on procedure and does the cleaning cycles, etc. But after that the power LED goes off. I think it is a dead junk now. I did look into the inside and found that the purge unit has no padding for a piece of felt for the print head to rest on when it is idle or powered off. It looks like what you said that the purge unit has blown off the pad. The cartridges are brand now (heavy and full) and OEM. Gee, I hate to throw them to the dumpster.

 

[Trigger 37]

Tin Ho,... The purge suction pad(s) probably got stuck to the bottom of the print head because of dried up ink turned to glue. Then when someone tried to print with it, the pads were moved away from the park position until something jammed. Whoever had it probably cleared the jam and through the pads away.

You can buy most all parts for Epson printers at Compassmicro.com, and you can get exploded diagrams of your printer. This "MAY" help you take it apart. Maybe the pads are in the bottom of the printer. Think of it this way,... now you have something to do with your spare time.

Have fun.